NO!!!! Seriously you will not ruin all of your hard work that you achieved when you began low carbing. Even on low carb diets, you eventually re-introduce carbs back into the plan.

On South Beach, once you are allowed to eat carbs in the form of bread and fruit on Phase 2, you do so slowly and in moderation, and only from whole grain sources.

Some of us do experience a very short lived initial bump-up of a pound or two in weight when we re-introduced grains or fruits into our diet, but it is just water weight and dissapears within a week or two at most.

Then if you stick to the recommended serving sizes of grains and fruits, you can safely add these amounts to your meal plans with confidence and you can begin to enjoy having these foods back in your life.

And many of us are finding after having been away from carbs for so long, that eating the whole grain versions are delicious. We can't imagine how we ever used white rice over brown rice or limp white bread over 100% whole wheat or sourdough.

Yes, you can eat carbs and not gain weight. In fact, since carbs tend to be lower in calories, these become staples in your diet and help you lose weight. On the South Beach diet you will be eating around 4 -4.5 cups of vegetables per day and a serving or two of grains and a serving or two of fruits.

In Phase 3 you will reach three servings of grains and three servings of fruit per day.